Jamie Francis/The OregonianWilliam Keene investigated the outbreak with other state and federal epidemiologists but Del Monte Fresh Produce only accused Oregon's senior epidemiologist for fingering its cantaloupe.

In a letter dated Sept. 14, Executive Director Ronald Bersin said the company’s complaint brings up issues that fall outside the mandate of the Government Ethics Commission. The commission only looks at the use of public office for personal gain.

Keene and other state and federal scientists concluded that the culprit fruit came from the company’s facility in Asuncion Mita, Guatemala. The company issued a recall in March, and in July, the Food and Drug Administration enacted an import alert against the company’s cantaloupe from Guatemala.

The alert gives the agency authority to hold the imported cantaloupes until Del Monte Fresh Produce can demonstrate that they’re safe.

The company maintains they were never responsible for the outbreak in the first place because none ever tested positive for Salmonella Panama, the strain involved in the outbreak. Epidemiological investigations often don’t include positive tests, however, because the food has already been consumed.

Besides the ethics complaint, Del Monte Fresh Produce also filed a tort claim last month, saying it intends to sue Oregon Health Authority over the outbreak. No such suit has been filed, but the company, which is no longer linked to Del Monte Corp., has two years to file. But it has filed a lawsuit against the FDA in the same outbreak in another unusual move.

State authorities declined to comment on the lawsuit threat or the dismissal by the ethics commission.

Oregon Public
Health has never been sued before or faced the threat of litigation in
the dozens of food-borne illness outbreaks it investigates every year.